The Wedding Song

The Wedding Song is a 2008 Franco-Tunisian film. It is the second film of director-writer Karin Albou who also appeared in the film in a small role as the mother of lead character Myriam. Synopsis Myriam (Lizzie Brocheré) and Nour (Olympe Borval) are two young Tunisian girls who live in the same poor tenement building in Tunis in the early 1940s. Jewish Myriam is allowed to go to school and given certain privileges while Nour, a native Tunisian, is banned by the French colonial authorities from being educated. At sixteen, Nour becomes engaged to one of her cousins, Khaled, though the marriage is delayed until Khaled can find work. Then, in November 1942, the German army invades. They spread propaganda to the native population telling them they will help to liberate their country from the French and blaming World War II on the Jews. After Americans bomb Tunisia, the Germans levy a heavy tax on the Jewish community. Unable to pay the tax, Myriam's mother Tita introduces her to a much older, wealthy Jewish doctor, Raoul (Simon Abkarian). Myriam is horrified at the prospect of marrying him and lies to her mother and Raoul, claiming she is no longer a virgin. When Raoul questions her, he realizes that Myriam does not understand what intercourse is, and decides to go on with engagement preparations.